Wow, Its funny how much ire Brad Penny has stirred up among the Dodger faithful in his recent return trip to the NL West.

I mean, you wouldn't think that a guy who was basically washed up and happily shown the door by Dodger management would be able to garner such feelings from such a sophisticated fan base.

(its hard to imagine for instance, that Scott Proctor could get anyone's blood pressure up had he been the one traded to SF at the deadline)

so the question is, what has the faithful here so worked up?

this comes to us from our Omaha office, via Yahoo user rfen52 ....

after you read it,  its almost enough to make you forget the name - Darren Dreifort -

The Dodgers have signed many big contracts since 2005, almost all of them disasters. Let's ask ourselves why McCourt should ever want to spend again.

Odalis Perez: 2005-06, $13,250,000 Thanks for the memories.
J.D. Drew: 2005, $11,400,000 for 72 games played.
Eric Gagne: 2005-06, $18,000,000 for 15 innings pitched.
Jeff Kent: 2005-08, $35,500,000 for clubhouse good cheer.
Jose Valentin: 2005, $3,500,000 for 56 games and a .170 batting average.
Milton Bradley: 2005, $2,500,000 for 75 games and a winning personality.
Danys Baez: 2006, $4,000,000 for a mediocre relief pitcher.
Jose Cruz Jr.: 2006, $2,910,000 for 273 forgettable plate appearances.
Rafael Furcal: 2006-08, $39,000,000 for little over half a healthy season.
Nomar Garciaparra: 2006-08, $24,000,000 for more cheerleading than playing.
Bill Mueller: 2006, $4,569,443 for 32 games played.
Brett Tomko: 2006-07, $7,700,000 for a back-end starter and questionable relief.
Brady Clark: 2007, $3,900,000 released after 66 plate disappearances
Luis Gonzalez: 2007, $7,156,599 for mediocre production and questionable leadership
Mark Hendrickson: 2007, $2,925,000 for a 5.21 ERA
Juan Pierre: 2007-11, $44,000,000 for a starting CF'er who now starts occasionally in LF.
Jason Schmidt: 2007-09, $47,000,000 for 3 wins and 6 losses.
Randy Wolf: 2007, $7,477,969 for half a season.
Andruw Jones: 2008-09, $36,000,000 for a complete bust
Esteban Loaiza: 2008, $7,500,000 released after nada
Brad Penny: 2008, $9,250,000 for 6 wins, 9 losses, and a 6.27 ERA
Scott Proctor: 2008, $1,115,000 for no relief
Mark Sweeney: 2008, $600,000 @ $50,000 a hit.
Will Ohman: 2009, $1,550,000 to throw pies
Rafael Furcal: 2009-11, $30,000,000 for what?
Manny Ramirez: 2009-10, $45,000,000 for Mannywood turning to Mannywouldn't.

Get out your calculators if you don't believe that's over 400 million dollars of grief!

CBS 2 's Jim Hill is reporting that Ronald Belisario was cited last night for DUI in San Bernardino Co. (he was also cited for talking on his cell phone while driving). He was not held. No other details.

Belisario pitched one inning to close the game last night, with 1 K and giving up one hit.

The big right hander ( 1 - 2, w/ 41 K's and a 2.03 ERA ) is a key set-up man in the Dodger relief corps.

Jason Giambi?, A-rod? - now Manny ....... Manny the Juicer

the common thread here is Joe Torre

 ( not to mention all of the name's he managed listed on the Mitchell report )

 always "the Fixer", Torre will calm the media first, his players and staff next and finally, ownership.

 a true professional Baseball Man in every sense of the word and very much a man of his times.

I dont know whether to pity him or despise him for the things that he's had to do.

I'd like to see the equipment gurus at MLB certify (sanction?) one model of Radar Gun each season to be used as the official speed gun at all Major League ballparks.

(Its well known that some teams post bogus numbers during the game as a motivational tool or in a bid to intimate the opposition)

...  there are too many variables when it comes to evaluating pitching ... and maybe this move would eliminate one more?